


Hide Outside Your Door

by AceDiamondis



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Hospital Ending AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-04
Updated: 2016-02-04
Packaged: 2018-05-18 03:09:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5895826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceDiamondis/pseuds/AceDiamondis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Max takes a bullet for her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hide Outside Your Door

**Author's Note:**

> AU, what I thought Hospital Ending was before the concept art came out.

Chloe doesn't know what exactly she's feeling right now but whatever it is it can go fuck off.

 _Jesus Christ_. Her life was shitty enough already, with Rachel missing, her dad dead, everything about Step-Douche, Max living it up in Seattle, and not bothering to shoot a text her way every once in a while. Except Max isn't in Seattle anymore. She's lying comatose in a hospital here in crappy Arcadia _fucking_ Bay courtesy of Nathan _fucking_ Prescott.

For all the times Max could have come back into her life it just had to be then and there. It's like Chloe's cursed.

She can hardly believe it happened at all if she wasn't sitting by Max's bed, watching the line rise and fall on the heart monitor. Looking at her face... Chloe just can't, right now. Every time she does, her mind flashes back to Max, deathly pale compared to the blood so red pooling around her.

"Goddamn it, Max," Chloe says. "This isn't how I pictured seeing you again, after all these years." What _did_ she imagine? That Max would waltz back into town with the perfect excuse explaining why she never called? Does taking a bullet for her make up for five years of radio silence? Did it even fucking matter? Maybe Max did — _does_ — have the perfect excuse. Not like Chloe's going to hear it with her best friend in a coma.

Captain, Max's stupid teddy bear when she was a kid, watches from the night stand. Vanessa picked it up from Max's dorm when she got into town an hour ago. Both of the Caulfields were outside now, talking to the doctors.

Chloe reaches out to hold Max's limp hand between her own, and she waits.

 

 

 

"Who would have fucking thought Blackwell's photography teacher was so messed up, huh?" Chloe says to the ceiling, tipping the chair back so two of its legs are in the air. She read somewhere talking to coma patients helps. "You, uh, probably were a fan of his? They made him sound pretty famous in the newspaper and you wouldn't have come to Blackwell if he sucked at photography. I think I heard photography class is cancelled until they find a replacement, which, really sucks for you. But, hey, not like you _need_ those lessons. Your parents showed me the photo wall thing you have in your dorm. It's _amazing_. You're... you're amazing, Max."

"C — _Chloe_?"

Her head smashes against the floor. She can practically hear Joyce scolding her. _Chloe! You're going to crack your damn skull open if you keep sitting like that._ Ignoring the dull ache, Chloe shoots back up so fast she almost trips on her own feet. Max stares back at her, eyes half-lidded.

"W - w - what? Where..." Max trails off. She slowly raises her head, turning to take in the flowers and get well soon balloons decorating the room.

"Hey," Chloe says, gentle, entwining their fingers together and giving Max's a light squeeze. Her eyes are unfocused and glazed but Chloe couldn't care less. _Max is awake_. She's going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay. "Yeah. Yeah, it's me, Chloe." At that Max seems to relax, letting her head lay down on the pillow.

Squinting up at her, Max mumbles, "your hair's blue."

Idly Chloe touches a strand of hair with her free hand. "You like it?"

"Mm. It's cool."

She doesn’t know what else to say. She ought to say _something_ to keep Max awake. Maybe get a doctor in here, but, what if Max falls back asleep while Chloe’s running around trying to find someone?

“How, how are you feeling?” Chloe cringes a little inwardly. _The girl got shot and just woke up from a coma, how do you_ think _she’s feeling, Price?_

Her eyes close. Chloe squeezes her hand again, harder.

“Tired,” Max says, at last.

It’s stupid, Max is awake, she’s going to be fine. Yet there’s an anxious part of her worried this might be it. Chloe has read literally everything about coma she could find in the last few days. Some never make a full recovery, aren’t able to manage anything but basic responses for the rest of their lives or lose the ability to speak coherently at all.

“You still with me, Super Max?”

Max mutters something, eyes still closed.

“I love you, Max. Get better. Please.”

 

 

Max wakes up again for a whole ten minutes. Chloe is at home, napping, when it happens. She wants to slap herself for missing it. Ryan sent her a text to let her know. She can feel how relieved he is, in the words he wrote. Joyce convinced Max’s parents to stay at their place, no point in wasting money on a hotel with hospital bills on the horizon. The Caulfields had been stressed out of their minds, hardly sleeping, constantly pacing, always on edge. Not too different from how Chloe’s been this week.

Chloe considers getting a gift. Max’s birthday was not that long ago. Max took a _bullet_ for her. A late birthday present is the least Chloe can do. Except what the hell should she get? She wants to give her something good, something _perfect_.

 

 

 

Ryan smiles, gets up from his chair, and wraps Chloe in a tight bear hug the second she walks through the door. She laughs, hugging him back. She loves Max’s parents. They’ve always been so warm and welcoming, cut from the same cloth as her own dad. From over Ryan’s shoulder, Chloe sees Max shaking her head, a fond smile on her face. She is sitting up, looking bright and alert. Chloe can’t stop from grinning. She wouldn’t want to.

“How’s our little patient?” Chloe questions when Ryan lets go. She stands beside the bed, Max looking up to meet her eyes.

“Uh, I’m fine, really. Just a little… disoriented, you know?”

Out of the corner of her eye Chloe notices Ryan and Vanessa share a _look_. “We’ll let you two have a moment alone. Would you want something to eat, something to drink?” Vanessa offers.

“No. Thanks though,” Chloe says. Max shakes her head.

Then they’re gone.

Max scratches the back of her neck. “So, um, how are you? This whole thing has probably been super weird for you.”

“Well, yeah. I didn’t even know you were back in town and all of sudden you’re there out of nowhere and saved my ass.” It comes out more accusing than she meant for it to.

Max stares down at her hands. “I was going to tell you I was back I was just, I don’t know. Being a massive asshole, I guess. I’m sorry, Chloe. You deserve better.” She exhales. “This is going to sound lame but I don’t even remember what I was doing in the bathroom when it, you know, _happened_. It’s like… Like it’s been a thousand years.” Max huffs out a breathy self-deprecating laugh. “I sound crazy. Sorry. Just forget it, my mind’s still kind of jumbled.”

“You just woke up from a coma, it’s normal,” Chloe says. “Don’t worry about it. I’m glad you’re here, right now. With me. And, uh, thank you, for taking a bullet for me.” She shoves Max’s shoulder, lightly, playfully. “Let’s just forget the whole thing, alright? All this mushy shit is giving me hives.”

The little relieved smile Max shoots her way warms her chest. _She hasn’t changed a bit_ , Chloe thinks.

“I always did say I’d take a bullet for you. Pirates for life.” Her weak attempt to shove Chloe back makes her grin. “I’m glad you’re here, Chlo.”


End file.
